Pinoy Boxers Champ

"The strong move quiet. The weak start riots."
The two respectful warriors were finally set to show their true ferocity inside the ring. The media tour for the fight did not provide a lot of fireworks, on the contrary, Pacquiao and Diaz became good friends during the tour.
The bout was held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on June 28, 2008. The arena was packed with Filipino and Mexican fans as has been the case in previous Pacquiao fights but this time however, he enjoyed a significant advantage in crowd support. The events center at the Mandalay Bay was buzzing in anticipation as Pacquiao aimed to conquer a higher weight class which offered a lot of unknowns. 
Will Pacquiao take his power with him at 135?
Will his punches hurt bigger fighters the way they did in the lower weight classes?
Can Pacquiao take a punch from a bigger opponent and a legitimate lightweight champion at that?
Among the thousands in attendance to witness Pacquiao answer those questions were the then recently crowned NBA champions Boston Celtics led by their Finals MVP Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. It was an indicating of Pacquiao’s rising international popularity. He was beginning to crossover in the US and embraced by not only his Filipino-American fans but American fight fans in general. A sensational victory over Diaz would only help his case and catapult his popularity and further his case as the sport’s new Pound-for-Pound king.

 Fans inside the Mandalay Bay for Pacquiao Diaz (AP Photo)
The fight started off as advertised. Pacquiao's relentless punching and speed combined with Diaz's come-forward fighting style truly made for a lethal combination. Pacquiao threw jabs and hooks with his right and displayed his speed advantage right off the bat. In the final minute of the first round, Pacquiao was already in a groove and looked as if he was connecting at will. Diaz would keep coming in though and deflected some of Pacquiao's shots. After getting tagged by a flurry, Diaz yells at Pacquiao "Come on!" as if taunting Pacquiao and saying he could not hurt him. Pacquiao obliges, and finishes the round with a good combination. Both fighters touch gloves at the sound of the bell.
In the second round, Pacquiao continued to circle around Diaz while throwing his combinations from different angles. As his trainer Freddie Roach mentioned before the fight, PAcquiao's speed was definitely dictating the pace of the fight. Diaz could not see where Pacquiao's punches were coming from and was reduced to covering up and bowing his head down. He couldn't get his punches off as well because of the volume of punches Pacquiao was throwing at him. And when he did get an opportunity to throw a punch, Pacquiao was no longer within his range. Toward the end of the round, Pacquiao opens a cut on Diaz's nose.
The ensuing rounds were no different. The doctor was in and David Diaz was simply a patient in Manny Pacquiao's clinic. And like a surgeon with a scalpel, Pacquiao was slicing Diaz's face up and what was more impressive was the fact that he was doing it with both hands.
HBO's ringside scorecard analyst Harold Lederman commented at the start of the fourth round saying,

"I can't remember a southpaw who can throw four, five right hands before he pulls his right hand back. Incredible! He throws a hook, a jab, an uppercut right before he pulls his hand back. It's amazing. Roy Jones used to do it with a left hand but this kid is amazing with that right hand."

I was clearly a one-sided affair. The pro-Pacquiao crowd were having the time of their lives. The chants of "Manny! Manny! Manny!"  went on all night long. Even Pacquiao had his opportunities to admire his own work frequently watching replays on the big screen while on his stool in-between rounds. 
In the last minute of the seventh round while paying tribute to Diaz's toughness, HBO commentator JimLampley said,

“David Diaz keeps plugging away.
He wasn’t as fast as as Zab Judah in 1996 either, but he somehow got that done.
He wasn’t as fast as Armando Sta. Cruz two summers ago in Chicago, but he somehow got that done.
His career will never be compared to that of the great Erik Morales, but he somehow got that done.
So don’t tell David Diaz he doesn’t have a chance. He doesn’t believe you.”

Perhaps he should’ve.
As the rounds added on, every round was looking like a copy of a copy of copy of the previous round. Manny Pacquiao was simply too fast, too talented and clearly outclassed the tough and gallant Diaz who simply would not quit nor go down. 
The fight mercifully came to an end in ninth the round after a lot of vicious clear shots from Pacquiao. Diaz fell, face first on the canvas after eating one of Pacquiao’s signature left cross with 40 seconds remaining in the round. In an admirable act of sportsmanship, Pacquiao quickly went to the aid of his fallen adversary prior to even celebrating his victory. He tried lift Diaz up by the hand and check the well-being on his opponent but was broken up by the referee so that the medical staff can follow their standard procedures and do their job.
Diaz would get back up on his feet and appeared to be alright a few minutes after the medical staff checked on him. He and even gave HBO one of it's more colorful post-fight interviews in recent memory. Here's a clip of Pacquiao and Diaz's post-fight interviews.

Pacquiao had answered the aforementioned questions on his climb to lightweight with an emphatic “yes”. On his first fight as a lightweight, Pacquiao instantly laid his claim as not only the division's best, but also made a strong case on being considered as the Pound-for-Pound best fighter in the world.
What's next for Pacquiao? Juan Manuel Marquez was still riding his coattails and continued to stalk him for a third fight as the Mexican warrior vowed to move-up to the lightweight division in hopes to get another shot at the Pac-man. The lightweight division was stacked with talent too. Or will a call from one of the sport's biggest legends be the next step for Pacquiao? Stay tuned for the next chapter of this series as I chronicle the past 10 years of Boxing's best.

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